The premise of the game feels forced, as does much else in the game. The setting, for example, is set in the modern day. However, Dracula can travel back in time to his classic medieval castle by delving into his own mind. His own mind? You mean the Lord of Darkness is just daydreaming? This de-fangs everything you do in the past! Why couldn’t we, I don’t know, actually travel into the past? I mean we are already talking about vampires and Satan, why not through time travel in there for good measure?

The game is largely an open world affair, as opposed to the canned stages of Lords of Shadow 1. While searching various locales for secrets is fun, backtracking certainly is not. The mini-map doesn’t do a very good job of letting you get a feel of your surroundings. The greater world map is really just a painting and doesn’t help you get a sense of direction at all. The game does a poor job pointing you the right way, or any way for that matter, and there are many points in which you just feel lost.

There are some good things to point out about Lords of Shadow 2. The voice acting is still top notch. The script is also alright, and includes throwback lines to games like Symphony of the Night. The graphics are amazing, especially when you get to wander through Dracula’s castle. Also, the game really did do a lot to fix it’s the platforming problems from its predecessor. Now, bats swarm around ledges that you can grab and jump to, making it much harder to randomly fall to your death.

But despite these small improvements, it’s just so hard to keep playing Lords of Shadow 2. Lords of Shadow 1 suffered from feeling like a God of War clone with poor platforming. Lords of Shadow 2, on the other hand, no longer feels like a clone. It just feels like a generic action game. It has a story you don’t care about, a mashy combat system, and generic enemies and locales. The only good thing about this game is its voice acting, but even Robert Carlyle can’t save this one.

ByAngelo M. D’Argenio
Contributing Writer
Date: February 25, 2014

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

4.0

GraphicsThe game certainly looks amazing. We don’t doubt that.

3.0

ControlThe most you will ever do is button mash your way through the game.

5.0

Music / Sound FX / Voice ActingRobert Carlyle? Sure, sign us up.

1.0

Play ValueThe game is a horrendous slog and the story does nothing to compel you.

2.0

Overall Rating - PoorNot an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.